5739.17
Vendor's license.

(A)
No
person shall engage in making retail sales subject to a tax imposed by or
pursuant to section
5739.02,
5739.021,
5739.023, or
5739.026 of the Revised Code as a
business without having a license therefor, except as otherwise provided in
divisions (A)(1), (2), and (3) of this section.

(1)
In
the dissolution of a partnership by death, the surviving partner may operate
under the license of the partnership for a period of sixty days.

(2)
The
heirs or legal representatives of deceased persons, and receivers and trustees
in bankruptcy, appointed by any competent authority, may operate under the
license of the person so succeeded in possession.

(3)
Two
or more persons who are not partners may operate a single place of business
under one license. In such case neither the retirement of any such person from
business at that place of business, nor the entrance of any person, under an
existing arrangement, shall affect the license or require the issuance of a new
license, unless the person retiring from the business is the individual named
on the vendor's license.

Except as otherwise
provided in this section, each applicant for a license shall make out and
deliver to the county auditor of each county in which the applicant desires to
engage in business, upon a blank to be furnished by such auditor for that
purpose, a statement showing the name of the applicant, each place of business
in the county where the applicant will make retail sales, the nature of the
business, and any other information the tax commissioner reasonably prescribes
in the form of a statement prescribed by the commissioner.

At the time of making the
application, the applicant shall pay into the county treasury a license fee in
the sum of twenty-five dollars for each fixed place of business in the county
that will be the situs of retail sales. Upon receipt of the application and
exhibition of the county treasurer's receipt, showing the payment of the
license fee, the county auditor shall issue to the applicant a license for each
fixed place of business designated in the application, authorizing the
applicant to engage in business at that location.

(B)
If a
vendor's identity changes, the vendor shall apply for a new license. If a
vendor wishes to move an existing fixed place of business to a new location
within the same county, the vendor shall obtain a new vendor's license or
submit a request to the commissioner
to transfer the existing vendor's license to the new location. When the new
location has been verified as being within the same county, the commissioner
shall authorize the transfer and notify the county auditor of the change of
location. If a vendor wishes to move an existing fixed place of business to
another county, the vendor's license shall not transfer and the vendor shall
obtain a new vendor's license from the county in which the business is to be
located. The form of the license shall be prescribed by the commissioner. The
fees collected shall be credited to the general fund of the county.
If a vendor fails to notify the commissioner of a
change of location of its fixed place of business or that its business has
closed, the commissioner may cancel the vendor's license if ordinary mail sent
to the location shown on the license is returned because of an undeliverable
address.

(C)
The commissioner may establish or participate in
a registration system whereby any vendor may obtain a vendor's license by
submitting to the commissioner a vendor's license application and a license fee
of twenty-five dollars for each fixed place of business at which the vendor
intends to make retail sales. Under this registration system, the commissioner
shall issue a vendor's license to the applicant on behalf of the county auditor
of the county in which the applicant desires to engage in business, and shall
forward a copy of the application and license fee to that county. All such
license fees received by the commissioner for the issuance of vendor's licenses
shall be deposited into the vendor's license application fund, which is hereby
created in the state treasury. The commissioner shall certify to the director
of budget and management within ten business days after the close of a month
the license fees to be transmitted to each county from the vendor's license
application fund for vendor's license applications received by the commissioner
during that month. License fees transmitted to a county for which payment was
not received by the commissioner may be netted against a future distribution to
that county, including distributions made pursuant to section
5739.21 of the Revised Code.

A vendor that makes
retail sales subject to tax under Chapter 5739. of the Revised Code pursuant to
a permit issued by the division of liquor control shall obtain a vendor's
license in the identical name and for the identical address as shown on the
permit.

Except as otherwise
provided in this section, if a vendor has no fixed place of business and sells
from a vehicle, each vehicle intended to be used within a county constitutes a
place of business for the purpose of this section.

(D)
As used in this
section, "transient vendor" means any person who makes
sales of tangible personal property from vending machines located on land owned
by others, who leases titled motor vehicles, titled watercraft, or titled
outboard motors, who effectuates leases that are taxed according to division
(A)(2) of section
5739.02 of the Revised Code, or
who, in the usual course of the person's business, transports inventory, stock
of goods, or similar tangible personal property to a temporary place of
business or temporary exhibition, show, fair, flea market, or similar event in
a county in which the person has no fixed place of business, for the purpose of
making retail sales of such property. A "temporary place of business" means any
public or quasi-public place including, but not limited to, a hotel, rooming
house, storeroom, building, part of a building, tent, vacant lot, railroad car,
or motor vehicle that is temporarily occupied for the purpose of making retail
sales of goods to the public. A place of business is not temporary if the same
person conducted business at the place continuously for more than six months or
occupied the premises as the person's permanent residence for more than six
months, or if the person intends it to be a fixed place of business.

Any transient vendor, in
lieu of obtaining a vendor's license under division (A) of this section for
counties in which the transient vendor has no fixed place of business, may
apply to the tax commissioner, on a form prescribed by the commissioner, for a
transient vendor's license. The transient vendor's license authorizes the
transient vendor to make retail sales in any county in which the transient
vendor does not maintain a fixed place of business. Any holder of a transient
vendor's license shall not be required to obtain a separate vendor's license
from the county auditor in that county. Upon the commissioner's determination
that an applicant is a transient vendor, the applicant shall pay a license fee
in the amount of twenty-five dollars, at which time the tax commissioner shall
issue the license. The tax commissioner may require a vendor to be licensed as
a transient vendor if, in the opinion of the commissioner, such licensing is
necessary for the efficient administration of the tax.

Any holder of a valid
transient vendor's license may make retail sales at a temporary place of
business or temporary exhibition, show, fair, flea market, or similar event,
held anywhere in the state without complying with any provision of section
311.37 of the Revised Code. Any
holder of a valid vendor's license may make retail sales as a transient vendor
at a temporary place of business or temporary exhibition, show, fair, flea
market, or similar event held in any county in which the vendor maintains a
fixed place of business for which the vendor holds a vendor's license without
obtaining a transient vendor's license.

(E)
Any
vendor who is issued a license
pursuant to this section shall display the license or a copy of it prominently,
in plain view, at every place of business of the vendor.

(F)
No
owner, organizer, or promoter who operates a fair, flea market, show,
exhibition, convention, or similar event at which transient vendors are present
shall fail to keep a comprehensive record of all
such vendors, listing the vendor's name, permanent address, vendor's license
number, and the type of goods sold. Such records shall be kept for four years
and shall be open to inspection by the commissioner.

(G)
The
commissioner may issue additional types of licenses if required to efficiently
administer the tax imposed by this chapter.